Onlife

Onlife #9

Hello! I've played Anarchy Online for about 3 years. I love the game, and a lot of other MMO's too, but they all look so stupid during combat scenes. Sometimes, the melee objects would be 10 feet away and still be able to hit you, and vice versa. The guns also sound and look stupid. And like you said, the low-level monsters are reets and birds. What is that all about!? Someone needs to make a scary MMO, like Doom 3 scary. It should be adult rated, so things like cursing, profane character names, and violent scenes are allowed. Physics from Half Life 2 should be involved too, so if your city or area is damaged, then it must be repaired.

John Whiteley

I played a lot AO as well, and it being the first MMO I got into that focused on ranged combat to such a heavy degree, I was initially aghast at how janky the shooting mechanics were. Sometimes, my submachine gun's shots would issue diagonally from my barrel, or my character would face one way, and fire at an enemy behind him. I eventually got used to it, sure, but maybe that's the problem -- once we get past the initial shock at the aesthetics behind these games, be they positive or negative, we start to focus too much on what's "under the hood." Maybe that's why developers are able to get away with so much, when it comes to these kinds of glitches and inconsistencies.

I don't know about the whole idea of a graphic MMO, though. If it still has problems like these, then what would be the point? It would just be a Anarchy Online with a Silent Hill skin. I think what you said about destructible environments is much more on point. Once we feel that our actions have an impact on the environment -- even if it's just smashing up walls -- we'll be that much closer to inhabiting worlds that make us feel that they're truly "real."

The future of MMOs? We can only hope.

Man of Action

In Onlife #8, you asked for ways MMORPG's could be more immersive. The truth is, it's easy as pie. The first step is that every new MMORPG should stop trying to be like Everquest! It's true. It's all the same basic formula. Create a fantasy-like character with D&D-style stats. Then kill a mutated version of a common animal for a week (usually a rat, rabbit, or bat), then move on to bears.

Maybe the problem is MMORPG'S themselves. I think we should drop the RPG part, and slap on an A. For some reason we're stuck in the mindset that everything MMO for some unknown reason MUST be an RPG.

I have officially created the term "MMOACTION." That's right, "Mo' Action." Imagine taking your dark elf thief, and instead of hitting a key, and getting a sandwich as the boring animation loops over and over again as a bunny kicks your butt, imagine actually controlling every move as your elf dodges the teeth of a vicious dragon, sinking your daggers into his leg, using them to pull yourself up on his back, balancing up his neck, and stabbing him in the eye. THERE'S your blind status effect.

Chris

I like the way you think, bro. I would love to see an MMORPG with an emphasis on action. The closest we have are games like Diablo and Phantasy Star Online which, while riveting in their own right, can only accurately be described using the term "action" if the words "role playing game" directly follow. Why can't there me an MMO with real action, in the Ninja Gaiden sense? Planetside pulled off the FPS thing, so what are developers waiting for? I hear a lot of people citing technical constraints as the reason why this isn't happening, but I think that excuse holds less and less water by the day.